Samsung's Galaxy J2 Pro Phone Can't Access the Internet | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

The smartphones of 2018 ship with a range of features to try and entice a purchase, but one thing they all have in common is the ability to access the Internet and use mobile apps. However, Samsung's new Galaxy J2 Pro handset may look just like any other smartphone, but it's far from it.

The Galaxy J2 Pro was announced by Samsung in South Korea late last week. As Ayrne reports, the handset sports a 5-inch QHD AMOLED screen, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, an 8MP front-facing and 5MP back-facing camera, and runs Android 7.1 Nougat using a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor. The battery is 2,600mAh and you can insert up to a 256GB micro-SD card into the included slot.

So far, so very smartphone. But that seems to be where the similarities end. The J2 Pro will not be able to load up web pages, run mobile apps, or do anything that requires access to 3G, LTE, or even Wi-Fi networks. This is as basic as phones get when it comes to data access. You can make calls, send text messages, snap photos, and watch content (off a micro SD card), and that's about it.

Samsung made the J2 Pro available to cater to very specific markets, notably the elderly, parents who want their children to have a phone just for easy contact, and students who need a phone but don't want distractions from their studies. Students have an extra incentive as Samsung is promising to accept the phone back from any student sitting the 2019/20 College Scholastic Ability Test and replace it with a Galaxy S handset instead.

The J2 Pro will be available in black or gold colors and carries a price of 199,100 won, which is roughly $185. So it's certainly not a cheap phone to purchase. However, the inability to even consider a data plan means ongoing costs should be very low and it is going to remove the worry that you may be running up a huge bill from accessing content through your phone.

For now, Samsung has no plans to launch the J2 Pro outside of South Korea. Would there be a market for it if they did? If the price was right then I bet there is. The number of seniors is increasing, and concerns are only growing about what kids have access to on the Internet. A dumb smartphone could prove very popular.